The Return
by Teal06
Summary: Takes place right after Jadzia is mistakingly! killed by the writers! . An alternative story line to her 'replacement'. Jadzia is having a nightmare. The worst part is--she's awake. Can she make Worf accept her for who she is...now?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The darkness crept into her as her eyes parted. An odd sensation, a feeling that she was not all together real, washed over her. Stiff and otherworldly, she reached beside her to feel Worf's presence and felt an emptiness of space. She pulled her hand back and down to the bed edge. There she felt metal instead of sheet and cushion. She sat up, too quickly she realized, and her head spun. The dizziness pulled her back to the mattress. She tried again, much more slowly, and tried gain her bearings.

"Lights!" she called, but nothing happened.

Where am I? She swung her legs around and hung them off of the platform. From this position she could see lights flickering off of a display, illuminating her surroundings as her eyes adjusted. She could see other platforms, and more equipment. It was a medical lab of some kind, that much she could tell. But, where was Julian? This was no lab she had ever been in before. Or was it? Something about it looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it. Like a dream the idea faded out before she could grasp hold of it.

"Hello," she called out into the darkness. Suddenly from a room beyond hers, a light turned on and she could seem someone coming down a hall she hadn't realized was there. "Hello? Could you tell me where I am please?" She tried to sound more confident than she felt. Had she been captured? If so, where were the guards, and why wasn't she shackled?

The overhead lights buzzed to life, leaving her to face a medical-staff person of some kind. A trill. Trill. Of course, she was in a Trillian lab. A strange sort of fear crept up her back , pouring into her, cooling her until she felt numb. Looking down, she noticed the exam robe for the first time. She was in a Trillian lab, on an exam table. This wasn't good.

"Where am I? What's happened?" A voice, not her own, emitted from her mouth. Startled, her hand went to her throat. "Answer me, please!"

The lab technician smiled calmly at her. "You are fine Maliah. The procedure went well. All is well. How do you feel?" He plucked a diagnostic tool from his belt and furrowed his eyes at her as he took some measurements.

She stared openly at him. A terrible mistake must have been made. Maliah? The name didn't even sound familiar to her. She opened her mouth to explain, and again she noticed her voice didn't sound right. It was high, and, well, just wrong.

"I'm on Trill aren't I?"

"Of course you are. Don't worry about how you feel right now, it is normal to feel disoriented and out of place for the first few days. This is perfectly normal."

Normal? Normal for who?

"I'm sorry, but some kind of mistake has been made. My name is not Maliah. Please, tell me what you've done." Her hands shook as she felt stomach, but then sensed the Dax symbiont within her. At least that hadn't changed.

"What do you mean? Your name is Maliah Dax. You are newly joined. Yesterday evening to be exact. Do you remember nothing of the last few days?" He began to examine her even more closely, scrutinizing every movement.

She became more agitated and upset with every word. Fear and disbelief ran over her in great waves, crashing into her mind with exploding force. Coldness overtook her.

"Newly joined? I have been joined for 10 years. What have you done? What have you done?" She jumped off the table, looking desperately for her reflection in any surface she could, but it was foggy and disjointed. "Where's Worf? What's happened?" She ran frantically from the technician as he attempted to give her a hypo-spray to calm her down.

"Who is Worf, Maliah? Who is it you want?" He was speaking slowly, trying not to alarm her.

"My husband. He would be here if this were some kind of emergency. Where is he?"

"Maliah, you are not married. You came here with your Mentor yesterday. You will be all right."

All right? She had to get out of there. She ran, dodging him left then right. Suddenly, several more technicians arrived and began circling her, speaking in overly calm tones, each carrying a hypo-spray. She panicked, her fighting stance kicking in, she began to lunge at them. Anything to stay clear of the hypo-spray.

"Worf!" She was crying and screaming and yelling at them all at once. Who was she? "I am Jadzia Dax." She cried. "I am Jadzia Dax! What did you do?"

Without warning a technician leaned over her and began to push the hypo-spray up to her shoulder. She reached back and flipped him up over her head. With the Klingon battle cry ripping out of her throat, she grabbed the spray and began shooting it into any tech that dared to get close to her. She disabled seven of them before they took her down, kicking and screaming, to the floor. A sharp pain in her neck from the shot told her she had lost the fight. Her body slowed and her eyes closed. Darkness.

Worf watched the scene play again from his chair in the Captain's ready room, his eyes full of disbelief and confusion. His muscles tensed when the woman called out his name, crying out for his help. He closed his eyes tightly and exhaled. When he opened them he realized that all eyes of the senior officers were focused on him. The pain he was feeling echoing in their eyes as well.

"I received this transmission from the Trill home world yesterday. This recording is over three weeks old. " Sisko cleared his throat. "They have done many tests. Most of which prove to be conclusive. This woman is Jadzia Dax. Her mind is complete in what Jadzia knew and experienced. They cannot find any trace of the woman they knew as Maliah."

"How can that be, Captain?" Kira was incredulous.

"You are asking the wrong person Major." He redirected the question to Dr. Bashier.

"Well, as far as they can tell, Maliah's brain wave patterns have been reset somehow. The only way this could have happened, except by medical means, is that Maliah allowed it to happen. That is the conclusion of the Trill Ministry as well. They took Maliah to the symbiont pool and had the Dax symbiont merge with the others. The report was favorable. That is, " he stopped, looking around seeing the confused expressions on his companions faces, "Maliah is not being used against her will by the previous host, Jadzia, nor is she going against their peoples mores and taboos and trying to live out the previous hosts life. There is no coercion on either of their parts. As far as they can tell Maliah has allowed herself to be, well, re-written. The symbionts see no need to have Dax re-joined again. They are pleased."

"You will forgive me doctor if I seem ignorant, but how could this have occurred in the first place?" Odo's scratchy voice challenged.

"Well, from the data they sent to us, their guess is that the energy from the alien that killed Jadzia somehow transformed the Dax symbiont. The readings are not normal by their scale. Jadzia's personality seems to have been embedded into it. And although it's unusual and rare, this sort of thing has happened twice before. The first occasion the symbiont chose to continue living the life it had had once its current host had passed on. It actually forced the previous hosts memory onto the current host against their will. That is taboo, and it was killed by the other symbionts upon removal. The other was when the host decided to pick up where the last host left off, and they removed the symbiont to protect it. That host was put into a mental facility. This seems to be neither case. Who ever Maliah was, she is no more. Neither they nor myself cannot say if she will someday reappear, but for now, she has been effectively written-over and Jadzia's intellect and personality are alive and well in Maliah's body."

Bashier looked around the room at the crew. What he saw in their eyes was mirrored in his mind. This couldn't be, but it was. "They are sending her to us for evaluation. It is the opinion of the Trill Ministry that to keep her from returning to her old life could cause a great deal of psychological harm. If we rule in her favor, she will be allowed to return to duty, and life goes on as normal."

"Normal?" Worf's voice boomed in the meeting room. He rose from his seat and left before Julian could make a reply.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Worf paced in his quarters. His mind was whirling with unanswered questions. The Trillian transport ship that Dax was arriving on would be there in an hour. The door sounded and he jumped.

"Enter."

In walked Major Kira. "I was wondering if I could wait with you." She said as she looked about Worf's quarters. What she saw surprised her. She saw the cup that Jadzia had been drinking tea out of the day she died still on the table. She saw Jadzia's hair brush sitting on the coffee table. She saw Jadzia's jacket on the back of the dining table chair. She saw the book Jadzia had been reading open face down on the couch. Everything is as it had been the morning she came to see her here. The last morning. The funny thing was, the room was clean, except for those items. Worf had been cleaning around them for weeks.

"If you would like, Major. I have no objection." He sat down in a chair opposite her and looked at his hands.

"Thanks, Worf. I was getting pretty edgy in my own quarters. So, " she said as she looked around again, "What do you think?"

Worf shrugged his shoulders.

Kira sat down on the sofa across from him and watched him carefully. She had never seem him so torn. All the times Jadzia had spoken of Worf and his romantic side, his sensitive side, she had just dismissed it. Love was blind, afterall. Now she could see that she had been wrong. He was broken. He had kept the room just as she had left it. That surprised her most of all. The Klingon code was to go on with life and all that. Worf was standing still. She continued to sit and said nothing until the page came from the Captain that the ship was docking.

She stood up and stretched. "Are you coming?"

He continued to look at his hands saying nothing. He shook his head slightly and rose and walked into the bedroom.

Kira watched the door close and stood staring at it for several minutes. He didn't come back. Well, she would face it alone for now. It? Her. She would face her. Why was she so frightened? She supposed it was the same reason Worf wasn't rushing down to meet her. What if it wasn't true? What if this person was a fraud. It would be like Jadzia dying all over again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The docking bay doors rolled back and out stepped a five-foot-nine slender woman with short black hair, her brown eyes shifting about her nervously. She turned down the hall and saw the Major coming towards her with Captain Sisko in tow. She took a haltingly deep breath and steadied herself for the meeting.

She smiled nervously at them as they approached. She found herself looking beyond them for someone else, for Worf, but he wasn't there. She knew, somehow, that he wouldn't be. They all stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak first.

"Welcome back, Old Man, " said the Captain in a too easy tone. "How was your trip?"

"Oh, not bad I suppose." What a strange thing to say. Not bad. Lost my life, got replaced by a shorter version. How have you been?

Kira stood nervously beside the Captain, not speaking and averting her eyes from Jadzia's.

"Nyres, please don't give me such a hard time okay? I am counting on you."

"Sorry, this is just such an, well, odd situation." Her voice sounded shaky. "I am not sure what to say, or do." Her hands pulled at her tunic.

"Well, its new to me too. Let's just be patient with each other for a while, hmm?" Then she looked past the Captain.

"No Worf?" Her expression was pained and pinched, but her voice sounded light.

"Ah, no. He thought he would just wait for you in your quarters." Nyres smiled.

"Softening the blow, Nyres?" She looked kindly at her. "Well, what is on the schedule first? Shall we go see the good doctor now and get this all over with?" Her voice had tightened.

"What ever you feel most comfortable with. Would you prefer to settle-in first?" The Captain using his most diplomatic tone.

She laughed. "Okay, Benjamin. Let's just go see Julian and get this done, all right."

"Fine, Old Man. You lead the way."

Lead the way. The first of many tests had begun. Does she know her way around the station? Does she know the Doctor's name? Is she in good temperament? She sighed. She knew this is how it was going to be for a while, she just didn't like it. She would have to spend the rest of the year proving herself to her friends. What of Worf?

"Anything the matter?" Asked Sisko as they walked up the companionway to the main deck towards the medical lab.

"Funny question, Benjamin." She looked at him bitterly. "I'm just a bit on edge. I know I have to expect all the questions and strange looks and questioning glances. But expecting it doesn't make it any easier. I feel like a captured spy convincing a jury that there was no way she could betray her friends. I'm on trial, and I don't much care for it." She finished her sentence and walked into the medical lab, not looking back.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dax's hand was poised over the key pad outside her quarters. She noticed that her fingers were shaking. She pulled back her hand and, breathing deeply, held it to her chest and waited for her heart to calm down.

"Nervous?" Kira's voice startled her from behind.

"Ah, well, wouldn't you be?"

"Yes. That's why I intervened for you." She smiled the smile of a conspirator.

"What do you mean?"

"I asked Odo to call Worf up to look at some reports that he deemed "of extreme importance". I though that would give you a chance to get your bearings. Settle-in and get comfortable before, well, any confrontations."

Jadzia sighed in relief. "Thanks Nyres." She lifted her hand to the key pad and entered their security code and entered. What she saw shocked her as much as it had Kira.

She wandered around the room, touching her own possessions gently, picking them up and reaching and picking up another.

"I can't believe he did this. This isn't like him at all." She whispered in wonder and concern.

Looking concernedly at Kira she asked, "How has he been?"

For the first time, Kira dropped her guard. "It really is hard to say. He didn't speak to anyone for days afterwards. He didn't leave your quarters for nearly a week. He hasn't eaten on the promenade since, well, since your death. It's been kinda spooky really."

"Time to shake things up a bit, I suppose." She went about and began to clean up the mess she'd left that last day weeks ago. She thought she was done until she entered their bedroom. There she saw an unmade bed. The sheets had been entirely changed with the exception of her pillow case. It was the same that it had been the day she died. Her eyes filled with tears. She quickly went and changed it, made the bed and drew open her wardrobe to change into something familiar.

Kira watched at a distance not wanting to intrude, but feeling like she shouldn't leave her alone just yet. Suddenly she realized Jadzia hadn't moved from in front of their closet for several minutes. She kept pulling out dresses and pant suits and putting them back.

"What is it?" Kira asked, seeing the exasperated look on her friends face.

"What isn't it?" She sighed again. "It isn't short enough, isn't the right color, isn't the right size." She threw down the clothes onto the bed. "I don't have a thing that fits properly anymore. I'm too short, too pale, too different!"

Kira smiled. "Some women would love to change their look. I mean, your not exactly ugly now are you? Your skin is much lighter, and hair much shorter, but you are definitely not short!"

"Two inches shorter. I know, I could be in much worse condition. I actually like my appearance. I just never realized how much things were going to have to change. I just didn't realize." Her voice trailed off. "I have to get to Garak's quick. Come on!" She rushed past Kira, grabbing her arm as they went through the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Worf walked slowly back to his quarters. She would be there, he knew. It hadn't taken long to figure out the meeting with Odo had been a decoy. He stopped short of the door and listened. He didn't hear Kira's voice at all. She would be alone. He braced himself and entered the code on the control pad, the door slid back revealing a table with dinner plates laid out, and covered dishes. The aroma was that of his favorite food. He walked in slowly, looking about for any sign of her. None.

"Hello?" he called, but received no answer.

It was then he noticed that every thing had changed. Jadzia's brush was gone, her cup put away, her book back on the shelf. He walked into the bedroom and found the bed made, pillow case changed. Opening her closet he saw that most of Jadzia's clothes were gone. What right had she to change everything? Anger rushed over him.

He heard the door pad beeping, their security code being typed in, and he strode directly into the living space to face her.

In walked an extremely beautiful woman. She was tall, although not as tall as Jadzia had been, with short black hair, brushed back from her face. She was wearing a black dress, his favorite black dress, and her arms were laden with packages full of clothing.

"Oh, you're back. Good. Dinner should be ready in just a second. I'm going to put these things up. Back in a sec." She waltzed by him seemingly without care. Inwardly she was gritting her teeth, waiting for the conversation that was to come. Her heart was racing, beads of perspiration broke out on the back her neck. "It's a funny thing, you know," she called from the bedroom, "I didn't fit any of these clothes anymore. I think I made Garak's week. We're going to get quite a bill, but," she wandered back in and began setting out the food on the table, "I think it'll be worth it to have me dressed. Well, at least some of the time, hmm?" She smiled , but kept her eyes averted.

"What have you done?" He demanded, sweeping his arm at the empty table, the sofa, the bedroom. "What right did you have to take away her things. You can't just come in here and," He stopped short.

Her eyes filled with tears. "Worf, they were my things to put away. My things to go through. I didn't mean to upset you. Worf, look at me, please." She put a hand to his arm and tried to turn him towards her.

Worf's eyes rose up to hers. She saw anger and betrayal there. They softened a bit as their eyes met, and then he turned to look into the bedroom.

"You should have left things alone," he said, bitterly.

"And what else should I have left alone? Should I have stayed away, let you mourn forever, pretended to be dead, or even stayed dead? What, Worf, what _should_ I have done?" Her voice rose with every sentence.

"Look at yourself, look at this place. _You_ shouldn't have done this. You were supposed to go on. But you didn't did you? Were you hoping I would, or wouldn't come back? Well, I am back Worf, and I am not going any where, so get used to it." She was beginning to cry. Damn. She could feel her chest tightening and her throat constricting against the sob and knew she was about to loose the battle. She looked around their quarters for something to focus on, and then she saw them.

Her arm reached up for the bahtleth hanging on the wall. She threw it harshly at Worf, who caught it with surprising ease.

"Let's go." She said, grabbing the one next to it. "Let's go now, before we say something we're going to regret." She wiped tears away with the back of her hand.

"Your clothing," he started.

"I'll change." She spat as she stomped off to the bedroom.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Hello."

Odo looked up from his table and was captured in her gaze. "Hello, Major. Won't you join me?" Odo's raspy voice tickled her ears. She smiled at him as she sat down.

They grinned stupidly at each other. Things had been this way between them for weeks. As she watched him take a few more notes on his PADD, her mind wandered to how their relationship had altered and changed. Much for the better. How had it taken so long?

"Well, what about tonight?" She asked.

He looked confused. "Tonight? I wasn't aware there was something special going on tonight. Did I miss something?"

"The Captain wanted us to have a 'welcome back' party for Jadzia. I thought we would go together." She paused for effect. "Unless you have other plans."

"Well, I was considering moping about in my quarters, but since you asked, I would be happy to accompany you."

"Well, at least I am an alternative to your moping. I am glad that I can help you out like that." She sounded annoyed, but grinned, warming to his glance. He smiled back.

"You two are really sickening. I'm sorry I ever fixed you up." Quarks whining voice traveled over to their table from the bar.

Kira stared at him incredulously. "_You_ fixed us up? How's that?"

"Tell her." He demanded from Odo. "Tell her I talked you into going to the hollo-deck to try Julian's program. It was all my doing Major."

Odo and Kira began to laugh. They had never told a soul how the hollo-deck had actually been responsible for getting them together. And they never would.

Just then Jadzia strode into the bar , with a bedraggled, angry Worf in tow, and demanded their fighting program from the bartender. Kira could see from Jadzia's strained face that this would be the match to end all matches. Odo spoke her mind.

"I hope they come out of their alive." He said under his breath.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Jadzia lifted her weapon and took her stance, waiting for Worf to approach her. He just stood and stared at her. She growled at him.

"What are you waiting for?"

"I do not think this is a good idea. Dr. Bashier warned us all that you needed to rest."

"He isn't here. And if he were I would tell him to butt out." She began to circle Worf, raising and lowering her bahtleth. Still Worf stood and watched, not raising his arms, letting his eyes follow her.

She stopped pacing and yelled, "Defend yourself!" as she lunged toward him, striking a downward blow to his body. Up came his defense as the blow glanced off his bahtleth. She came again and again and before long he found himself embroiled in battle.

The hollodeck, made to look like a room of interconnecting caverns, echoed with grunts and yells, feet sliding on dry earth, and metal striking metal. The sounds of a battalion fighting for it's life filled their ears. No one would have guessed that only two made such noise.

The fight continued for almost an half an hour, neither one speaking, locked in an intense battle. Jadzia felt the blood draining out of her limbs as her arms numbed and ached with each strike. She was beginning to trip over her own feet as she scuffled out of the way of another blow. Down came the sword, and as she raised her arms to block it away, her left leg cramped up under the weight and she fell to the floor, landing back with such force that she slid and hit her head on the cave wall. She felt the skin tear and her head swam as her ears began to buzz. The ache slowly crept it's way down her spine as she lay side ways in the dirt.

Worf dropped his weapon and ran to her side. "Are you all right?" His voice was filled with concern.

Jadzia raised her tear filled eyes to his. "No, dammit, I am not all right!" She pushed him away and tried to stand. Her leg gave out again and she landed back down in the dirt. "This lousy body. Didn't she ever even exercise?" She crawled to a sitting position and then gingerly stood, testing out her leg.

Worf protested. "It is not the body you are angry at. No one that has never fought in a Klingon battle before should fight for this long. You are simply tired."

She knew he was right, and that she had taken a foolish chance. At the same time, she was angry he was right and in her attempt to push him away again, slipped back and fell to the floor a third time. Her side began to cramp up from the pain in her leg. She cried out and Worf immediately put out his hand to comfort her.

"Here." He said as he pulled her boot off and began to carefully pull her leg out straight. She winced in pain and groaned as he applied more force. Finally the leg was straitened completely and he began to rub out the cramp.

"It is not getting any better. There is damage. We should go and see Dr. Bashier."

"I really don't want to see anymore doctors right now."

Worf continued to attempt to remove the cramp from the knotted muscle in her thigh.

"Ow!" She cried out and hit his arm.

"We are going." He said in his most decisive tone and stood, picking her up in his arms and carried her out against her will.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

They waited inside the medical bay for Julian to arrive. She refused to look at him. She was still so angry, but he could do almost anything but take his eyes off her.

"I should not have allowed you to fight. This is my fault."

At that moment, Dr. Bashier arrived. "I couldn't agree with you more. I told you she wasn't up to any exercises. What did you do this time?"

"Quit patronizing me, Julian. I made my own choice. I had to do something that would feel real, feel like me." She paused, looking at Worf for a reaction. "I just over did it." There was the sound of defeat in her voice.

"Well, we can argue responsibility later. Let's see," he said as he passed a medical scanner over her leg. He stopped, frowning, and then passed it over the other leg, then her torso and arms. "You have pulled four muscles and done some significant damage to this leg. You also have strained both shoulder joints." He shook his head. "You have quite a cut and bruise on the back of your head as well. You are not you anymore, Jadzia. I don't know what else to do to convince you. I don't want to even hear of you doing any strenuous exercising for at least a week. Then I want to go over a muscle and joint strengthening program." He looked at Worf. "Klingon battle simulations are entirely off limits, is that understood?"

Worf nodded gravely. He had been listening seriously to Dr. Bashier for the last several minutes and it wasn't until this moment that he noticed his hand had not left Jadzia's the entire time. It surprised him, but he didn't pull away. She leaned over and pushed her head into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I was being childish. I've just felt so frustrated about this whole thing. I was trying to prove something to you, and I guess to me too. I have to accept that things will never be the same." Just as she finished saying that he moved his hand under her chin.

"Do not loose hope." And he smiled into her eyes. It was the first time she felt comfortable under his gaze since her return.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Worf helped Jadzia hobble down the hall and into their quarters. He sat her down on the bed and lifted her legs upon a stack of pillows. She lay quietly, watching him work, waiting for him to speak. Instead he left the room and returned in moments with her favorite soup on a tray.

"Eat this and rest."

"What about you?" She questioned, her stomach growled with in her at the sight of the food.

"I have to go on duty."

"When are you off?"

"I will be back in six hours. Then we will go to your party." He stood back and covered her with the blanket on the bed.

"Party? I hadn't heard." She grimaced as she leaned back against the pillows.

"Will you be up to it?"

Jadzia shrugged. "I don't see why not."

Worf watched her for a minute more. "I will see you tonight."

He touched her cheek lightly with his fingers and walked out. Jadzia's eyes were closed before she heard

the door slide shut.

Hours later, Worf and Jadzia walked down the companionway towards the party. All eyes seemed to be on her. As if Worf sensed her nervousness, he and pulled her arm tighter into his side. She let out a breath, thankful that he was with her. Before she had realized it they were standing in front of the door way.

"Are you ready?"

"Sure, nothing can stop me, right?"

"Unless they have bahtleths."

She punched him in the arm. "Wait until I get you home tonight."

He glanced down at her, his eyes fiery with expectation, his voice gravelly and deep. "Yes?"

He was joking, and flirting. Relief filled her being.

"You'll just have to wait and see." She pressed the door buzzer. The door opened, and everyone cheered.


End file.
